The moderating role of the Five Factor Model of personality on anxiety following computer-mediated communication

With the increasing popularity of the Internet, online interpersonal interactions have become a popular method of communication. The current study examined whether individuals with certain personality traits feel less anxious when communicating via computer-mediated communication (CMC) rather than face-to-face (FtF). To examine this, participants were given the Big Five Inventory (BFI; John & Srivastava, 1999) to assess their personality. Next, participants completed a 15-minute interaction with a confederate either through CMC or FtF. After the interaction, participants completed the UWIST Mood Adjective Checklist (Matthews, Jones, & Chamberlain, 1990) to examine their current anxiety. Results indicated that those individuals that were extraverted or agreeable were significantly less anxious regardless of the type of interaction than those who were introverted or antagonistic. However, no significant moderation effects were found for any of the five factor traits. Results are discussed in terms of the popularity of Internet communication and how CMC may now be regarded as similar to FtF interaction.